Morocco’s government is considering allowing foreign companies to list on the Casablanca stock exchange and creating a second market dedicated to small and medium-sized businesses.

The foreign companies’ shares could be listed in foreign currency or in Morocco’s dirham, the government said after the cabinet agreed a draft law on Thursday at the weekly cabinet meeting.

It would be the first move since the early 1990s to develop Casablanca’s stock market, whose index has lost more than 20 percent in the last five years, according to data compiled by Reuters. Morocco was downgraded to “frontier market” status by index provider MSCI in 2013, due to lack of market liquidity.

The law, which would need parliament’s approval, would make it easier for small and medium-sized companies to get access to capital…[FULL STORY]